A collection of recipes from an ex-vegetarian, new additions at random points in time.

Friday, 1 June 2012

Split Pea and Avocado Tacos

After hearing about the trick of using an inverted muffin tin to prop up tortillas while baking them to make crisp taco shells I had to give it a go. I've still not worked out how to eat them gracefully, but the crisp shell does go nicely with the soft filling.

Ingredients:

160g dried split peas, soaked overnight in plenty of cold water

4 soft tortilla

1 tbsp sunflower oil

2 onions, peeled and finely chopped

1 leek, washed, top and tail removed and thinly sliced

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 ripe avocados, peeled and cut into 1cm pieces

30g cheese, grated

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

Drain the soaked split peas and put them in a saucepan.

Cover with plenty of water and bring to the boil on a high heat.

Boil on a rolling boil for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat so that it's just a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes.

Use an upside-down muffin tin to hold the tortillas in a taco shape and bake them in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp them up.

While the peas are simmering and the tortillas are crisping up, fry the onions and leek in the sunflower oil in a deep frying pan or wok.

When the onions have softened, add the cumin, paprika, coriander, pepper and lemon juice to them.

Stir the spiced onion mixture well and fry for a couple more minutes on a medium heat.

Don't forget to take the tortillas out of the oven!

Once the peas are cooked, drain them and add them to the onions.

Turn the heat under the onion and pea mixture up to a medium level and make sure it's all heated through.

Add the chopped avocados and mix well. Leave for a minute to heat through, but not too long as then the avocados pieces will start to fall apart.

Arrange the crisp tortillas on a plate and fill with the avocado and split pea mixture.